Young Engine Cleaner

[locojoe]

I first started work as an Engine cleaner at Enfield shed in the spring of 1954, on my first day of engine cleaning at Enfield, I reported for duty at 8AM and was very excited about my first day working for British Railways. There was someone in charge of us but I can't recall his name. We were issued with cotton waste and an oily liquid we called monkey spunk, I think it was a mixture of oil and something else, this was what we used to clean the engines which were N7 0-6-2 Ts. I think it's tradition that the newest lad always got the worst job I had to clean the motions, that’s the moving parts of the engine, As most youngsters do I got absolutly filthy and when I got home mum went mad and told me to pack the job up.
Alan.